... the Bersa Firestorm .380 ACP, to be exact.


Was helpin' a lady friend of mine, who has the smallest hands one can imagine, find a budget pistol for her home.

$300 w/ a lifetime warranty.

The more I looked, the more I liked these things.

3.5" Bbl., inexpensive Mec-Gar 8-round mags, comfortable rubber grips.

... and Glock-esque sights ta-boot.


Shoots nice, precise and reliable.

Did I mention $300?

She loves it.

... and I bought one, too.




GR

Not a bad choice.. Great, since the fact that she loves it. I have a couple .380s myself, useful or not, for 'just around town' stuff. Better than a sharp stick..

Yeah, nice trigger, simple controls.

Carry a .40 or .45 ACP.

9mm as a micro/minimum.

But this thing is flat cool.

James Bond cool.


And, while 95 gr. PDX1 out of a 3.5" Bbl. might not quite make the FBI 12" min. penetration spec?

... it makes a nice big hole on its way almost there.






GR

I used to love my Astra Constable back in the 1980s, which is about the same gun, made in Spain. Essentially, a PPK ripoff (I carried it in a DeSantis OWB holster made for a PPK, and it fit to a T). Wish I never sold it. Can't imagine what I was thinking. Very cook little gun.

I've had a couple bersa thunders which I'm not sure what the difference in them and the one pictured are . and thunder Plus which is exactly like a thunder only a 15 round double stack magazine. couldn't knock them. they were more reliable than Walter PPK and more accurate than the little equivalent sig can't remember the number right now ..

I have two CZ 83's,a Sig P230 and a Browning 1911-380.I wouldn't stand and let someone shoot me with any of them.

As I hear it, the FireStorm was a spec. pistol made for the Spanish Govt.

- 7-round .380 ACP single-stack mag..
- Glock-esque sights.
- Rubber wraparound grip w/ finger groves.
- Sans trigger guard serrations/rest.
- Sans trigger lock.

Then, it was picked up as a U.S. import, predominantly for the Soviet Provinces that have Unconstitutional restrictions.




GR

Sig P230. I had one of those in the 1980s, too. Sweet guns. A more modern take on the PPK.

I read good things about them. You can get Federal Premium HST Law Enforcement ammo in 50 round boxes for that gun.
.

😳😳😳😳😳😳

This from the guy who said anything less than 9mm para was a pip squeak gun meant only for puzzies. Now giving advice?

Federal HST deep does make the 12” min in bare and clothed gel.

I was just kidding, 9x17 vs. 9x19, or 10x22 vs. 10x25....is there much difference if the shots are well-placed? Should it not be about confidence in gun reliability and good shooting?

Exactly why the PPK/S was developed. To get around import restrictions on the PPK.

My wife has a Bersa 380 and loves it! Better than her Kimber

The 380 is an option for those who want a small compact weapon. But with the number of 9mm compacts that are out now I cannot see how you could not pick the 9mm for heavier bullet, more speed and energy! Hell, the ammo is even cheaper!

I kind of agree with this in my case this was before the 365, hellcat, max 9, etc

Well geez, guess that falls into the personal preference and situation doesn’t it. My PPK is what I call my 12 mile gun. Village is pop. 395, closest big town (12 miles away) pop. 4300. It carries and conceals very well even under a t-shirt. Very little crime in either except for a stray skunk. Damn gotta carry 20 rounds to possibly kill a skunk while mowing the lawn or going 3 blocks to the gas station. 😳
Now if I go anywhere farther than 12 miles I carry a 1911 45acp especially if going to the bigger city of GI (50,000) or Lincoln (200,000) or Omaha (300,000+). I might slum a G26 but I don’t like the sucker that much, barely a step up from 380 and definitely lacking compared to 45acp. In fact I like the wife’s PX4 storm 10 times better than the glock.

A 380 is a deep concealment gun. My Ruger LCP Custom is what I carry the most. Either in a Don Hume IWB, a DeSantis back pocket wallet holster, or just in any pants or flannel shirt pocket.
Now that colder weather is here I started mixing it up a bit.

I know a guy who carries one. He claims it's accurate enough to pot the occasional groundhog with, and he's done so a time or two. He really likes his little Bersa.

This is where I am. Along with the reality that one can buy "lite" defensive loads for the 9 that anyone shooting a 380 can shoot in the same-sized gun. Or if you load your own, you can load a 9 down to a 380 if you need to. Or load weak practice ammo and then carry warmer stuff.

Basically, if you have a 9mm, you have a 380, but if you have a 380, you don't have a 9.

They don’t make a reliable 9mm the size of an LCP. When you step up to guns the size of the Bersa, there are plenty of 9mm’s the same size.

I always thought the browning version of the beretta .380 looked ‘neat’, but it just doesn’t make sense when compared to the modern micro 9’s. In an LCP sized gun it makes a lot more sense, as it’s the biggest caliber you can cram into it.

The first one was the very innovative Kahr K9. It had about the same footprint of the PPK.

Kahr:
L 6”
H 4.5”
W of slide 0.9”
Weight 25 oz

LCP
L 5.16”
H 3.6”
W 0.81”
Weight 9.6 oz

Rereading I see you are comparing the Kahr to the PPK/s. Yep, they are pretty close.

Fixed it for you.

Of note for me is, of all the gun deals that I have been offered over the years not one of them involved a 380. If a deal on one had come up I guess I would have bought it. There was one single stack 380 that I did look at twice. I was talked out of it from the dealer who told me it was used in a suicide. It was an engraved stainless/nickle plated berretta, i do not remember the model, but the magazine had a finger hook on the base plate.

The Kahr PM9 is dang close, IIRC.. I carry one quite often around town here..

Some Company is now making the old “SeeCamp” again, which is about the same size and around $600.
I looked at one at my LGS, a while back, and the first thing I noticed, was that it had no sights. And a horrible trigger pull. I was not impressed.

That being said, I’ll stick my with old Ruger LCP 380, which has always been super reliable. The newer version in the LCP Max 380 with the staggered magazine and 10 + 1 capacity would be my choice if I was buying a new 380.

The old SeeCamp I owned in 32 acp in the early 90’s was only “reliable” with Winchester Silvertip ammo, supposedly.
Mine was not reliable with any ammo.

This pistol is interesting in that it is simply adequate for a variety of uses.

Small and light weight, but not too small and light for a fighting pistol.

Simple blow-back design.

8+1 capacity w/ the inexpensive Mec-Gar mags.

The 3.5" Bbl. makes the most out of the minimalist .380 ACP SD rounds.

Flat-nosed FMJ make for an adequate trail round.

Comfortable to shoot precisely, even by inexperienced shooters.


Did I mention the "cool" factor?

8>)


Lot to like for $300.




GR

There’s something to be said for being able to accurately sling a magazine full of .380 rounds out of a small gun almost like it was a .22 LR. The mini-nines now are made in the same size range as the larger .380s, but the recoil is substantially more (at least against locked breech .380s), and follow-up shots are slower. The mini-nines also require more practice to keep in shape than with the roughly equivalent sized .380s.

Carry whatever you want as long as you know how to use it. I also have a personal criteria that I won’t carry something if it would force me to compromise on the situations in which I would carry or employ it. I don’t go for the concept of carrying one gun on a milk run a couple of blocks from home and a different one when going to the big city.

Agreed. The .380 catches a lot of schit for being underpowered while the rimmed darlings get adoration.

The .380 is a great round and makes more sense for more people than anybody gives it credit for. It just has to be put into an adequately sized pistol to see it really shine.

Major props to S&W for introducing their EZ in the .380. More people to recognize just how genius that design/concept is. Blows holy hell out of anything else in the .380 offerings.

All that is kinda the way I feel about my Sig P238 .380 pistol. It gets carried a lot. Rock solid reliable. Seven round mags. I can shoot it damned well, and it handles great. And .380 ACP, with the right loads, can do the job.

My little SeeCamp 32 has been reliable in the past with Speer gold dots but I have not shot it in some time. Mine is an old one back when you had to wait for a year to get it built and it is made like a swiss watch. At the time I considered it a "Get Off of Me Gun", just like I think of my Ruger LCP, so lack of sights were never an issue.

I carry my J-Frame 38 Snub Nose in lieu of either the SeeCamp or the LCP now as my summer/deep concealment gun.

Well here’s a little context. 2009 living in the big city, nice summer night guy 2 blocks from me got robbed at gun point while drinking a beer with a friend in his own garage. Always had a G26, 1911 or that PPK on my side since. Leave the house 1911 or G26. Putzing in the garage or the yard, PPK.

Fast forward 2015 retired living in small town Nebraska and visits to anywhere other than my yard, garage or run to the convenience store 3 blocks away, town larger than 3000 are 2-3 weeks apart, sometimes a month unless some emergency pops up. Damn, I gots to carry 13 -20 rounds of 9mm or 9 rounds in a 1911 to mow the lawn or just to sit in the house? Naw, same procedure just different situations.

Mine is a Colt Govt. 380. I like it.

As said above, will beat hell out of a sharp stick or a pair of fingernail clippers in a gun fight.

I bought one as soon as they hit the market back in the early 1980s. I carried it quite a lot in my back pocket. I've always regretted selling it.

I may not have made myself clear. I was not suggesting that you need a Glock 26 and multiple bulbous Glock magazines or a 1911 for either and/or both of the big city and mowing the lawn. I am suggesting that there are a lot of good tweener options today in 9mm and .380 that can cover both. All you have to do (in addition to practicing regularly) is be willing to put up with a platform about the same size as or slightly larger than, and 0-7 ounces heavier than, an aluminum framed J frame. They come with more capacity, have better ammo than ever before, and are easier to shoot at distance. I am a refugee from a murder capital but do not take for granted that nothing bad can happen in my much more peaceful community. Mental health crises can arise anywhere anytime, and highways and train tracks can import people any time of day or night.

Anyone carry a Colt Mustang Plus II? I have looked at them and really like the feel of them but like a fool I passed one up at a gun show because I thought it was a bit too expensive . They are a Mustang slide on a government frame and they just fit my large hands about perfectly.

Nice gun...mainly because the buyer likes it...so they will probably use it.

I have the obligatory ppk and ppk/s that are range/safe queens.

I often carry the little glock 380, just because the size and convenience. Plus it fires from a locked breech so that makes it a little less snappy to me.

-John

Sportsman's Warehouse has'em for $260 on their Black Friday/Christmas Sale.




GR

I have ZERO problems with my S&W Bodyguard 2015

+1 the 380 ez is a great pistol!

Sportsman's Warehouse has'em for $260 on their Black Friday/Christmas Sale.






GR